tarten

English

Etymology

From tart +‎ -en.

Verb

tarten (third-person singular simple present tartens, present participle tartening, simple past and past participle tartened)

1. (transitive) To make tart or bitter
   • 1956, Library Journal, volume 81, page 2257:

     These faults in a scholar tend to tarten the writing, to enliven the reader.

   • 1964, Long Island Forum, volumes 27-29, page 169:

     I loved their shouts of welcome as I trudged across the fields carrying the heavy jug. Mama mixed the old time drink from cold well water, a pinch of ginger, molasses and some vinegar to tarten it.

   • 1991, The Lyric Opera companion, The History, Lore, and Stories of the World's Greatest Operas:

     He knew precisely when to spice the orchestration with percussive pepper, when to add a pinch more of sugar, when to tarten the mixture with a squeeze or two of lime.

2. (intransitive) To become tart or bitter
   • 1928, The Second American Caravan: A Yearbook of American Literature:

     […] her sweetness tartened as one side of her clutched loyalty, the other love.

Anagrams

• Arnett, attern, natter, net art, ratten, treant

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch torten, tarten, terten, from Old Dutch *trotton, *tratton, further etymology unknown. Cognate with Middle High German tratzen, trotzen, tretzen, with the same variation in stem vowel.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑrtən

Verb

tarten

1. to provoke, to dare, to affront

   het lot tarten ― to tempt fate

   Hij tartte het lot ― He tempted fate.

Inflection

Inflection of tarten (weak)
infinitive	tarten
past singular	tartte
past participle	getart
infinitive	tarten
gerund	tarten n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	tart	tartte
2nd person sing. (jij)	tart	tartte
2nd person sing. (u)	tart	tartte
2nd person sing. (gij)	tart	tartte
3rd person singular	tart	tartte
plural	tarten	tartten
subjunctive sing.1	tarte	tartte
subjunctive plur.1	tarten	tartten
imperative sing.	tart
imperative plur.1	tart
participles	tartend	getart
1) Archaic.

Synonyms

• uitdagen
• uitlokken
• provoceren

Anagrams

• natter, ratten